The Institute has confidence in technology, innovation and the can-do spirit of the American people to solve problems and forge new opportunities. We are not among the doomsayers who wring their hands about "limits" or doubt the capacity of our civic and faith-based institutions to make things work. We believe in the ability of free people and experienced leaders in every sector, coupled with innovative technologies and new institutional arrangements, to overcome adverse circumstances.

We believe in market-driven solutions to public policy problems. Recognizing the vital role of government as an arbiter, provider of essential services, and guardian of the public interest, we nevertheless believe that decentralized, self-administering systems using economic incentives to shape behavior and outcomes will nearly always lead to the most effective and equitable solutions to environmental and other public policy problems.

We are enterprise-oriented. We believe real prosperity is created by enterprising individuals and entrepreneurial firms - particularly small and mid-sized enterprises. So, we must invest in people and foster a supportive climate for business and commerce, which includes preserving the freedom of people and firms to save, invest and take risks.

We believe that people and communities are integral elements of the ecology, that endangered communities deserve as much consideration as endangered species and that cultural diversity is as important as biodiversity.

We believe that America's internationalism, its ethnic and religious pluralism and its access to immigrant energy, know-how and connections as well as its traditional free-trade orientation and its web of contacts in the ascendant Pacific Rim - including North America, the Western Hemisphere and Asian Rim nations -- give the nation a major strategic advantage in the 21st century.